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Josh Hartnett, Charlie Heaton and Mackenzie Davis stop by THR's TIFF Studio at the 1 Hotel in Toronto and dish on their thriller miniseries 'Below.' Hartnett reveals he was "actively not looking to do a TV show" until he read the script for 'Below,' and same for Charlie Heaton after finishing up 'Stranger Things.' Plus, the cast share the best things to do in Newfoundland when not filming.

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Transcript
00:00Hi, I'm Mackenzie Davis.
00:02Sorry, what are we doing?
00:05I totally just blanked out.
00:07I say my name and you say yours.
00:09Of course, of course we're doing that.
00:12Hi, I'm Charlie Heaton.
00:13Hi, I'm Josh Hartnett.
00:16Hi, I'm Mackenzie Davis.
00:18Hi, I'm Charlie Heaton.
00:19Hi, I'm Josh Hartnett and we're from the film...
00:22And I'm Josh Hartnett and we're from the series Below.
00:25Out now on Netflix, yes?
00:27Of course you are.
00:28And this is The Hollywood Reporter.
00:38Hi, I'm Saya Rankin and I'm here with Below.
00:42Josh, we'll have you do.
00:45Tell us the spiel on this show, kind of the one sentence log line.
00:51Spoiler free.
00:52Free, spoiler free.
00:53Spoiler free.
00:53It's hard to do it in one sentence, but it's...
00:56You can have a couple sentences.
00:56So a Newfoundland fishing village that's been kind of on the edge of Newfoundland civilization
01:04for a while now is being potentially forced to relocate.
01:08And there's a family at the center of it, a character named Calvin, my character, who is very reluctant to
01:14do this.
01:15And in the midst of sort of fighting this small battle that is a much... ends up being a much
01:20larger battle,
01:21something very mysterious happens in the water.
01:25And yeah, I guess that's it.
01:27Are we allowed to say what's in the water yet or no?
01:33Because I was going to say what I've been describing it as, but...
01:36I mean, it's not exactly, I think, what...
01:38I mean, like...
01:39The thing in the water.
01:41Did somebody tell you what it was?
01:43Well, no.
01:45So then I don't know.
01:46I mean, you can guess, but I don't know if you'll be right.
01:47I was going to say it's sort of Widow's Bay, but something's in the water instead of in the spirits
01:54around you.
01:56I wouldn't say that.
01:57I mean, I saw Widow's Bay and I really liked it.
01:59There's a totally different tone in this show.
02:01It's much more sort of human-oriented and less sort of overtly comedic,
02:10but very funny in its own way as well.
02:13Yeah, less slapstick.
02:14What were each of you guys, like, looking to do, like, when this show came to you?
02:19Were you guys looking for a show or, like, looking to get away from home or...?
02:25Can I just say I was actively not looking to do a TV show?
02:28Oh, okay.
02:28Like, I was actively not looking for those shows.
02:30I just came off a movie and wanted to do another movie.
02:32I was going to go do another movie, and then I read this, and I was like, wow, this is
02:35amazing.
02:36Yeah, me too.
02:37I just come off, literally just come off finishing, you know, 10 years in a Netflix genre show.
02:42So, yeah, I was also not looking to do a show.
02:45The fact that it was limited did help.
02:48But, no, in reality, it was the world script.
02:53And what Jesse wrote in the pilot, it seemed just, like, it seems, you know, larger than life.
03:00But then the thing is, when you get to Newfoundland, you know, it is that richness and the brightness that
03:06comes off screen.
03:07That is all there, you know, and these people are all there.
03:10And, yeah, it's just that world is so intriguing.
03:14Absolutely.
03:14Yeah, yeah.
03:15It's just really good.
03:16I feel like that's the only thing I'm ever looking for is, like, has it been done a thousand times
03:21before or have I done it before?
03:24In which case, no.
03:26And this was so special and unique and specific in particular.
03:31And I just loved it.
03:33It was hard to deny.
03:34Charlie, when you, like, did you get an email about it?
03:39Like, when you said you were, like, I don't want to do another, like, genre.
03:42I just did a show.
03:43Did you have to be convinced?
03:44Or, like, what got you to even read it or take the call?
03:48My agent did that thing where he's like, I know you said you didn't want to do this thing, but
03:52just, but, but, but, but, but just, but, yeah, no, just take a read.
03:57And I did and I read the pilot and I just, you know, I blasted through it so fast.
04:01And then I had a, yeah, a Zoom with Jesse and, yeah, it just became apparent that it was something,
04:06it was like a really rich world that I wanted to, yeah, give it a go.
04:09And also the character for me.
04:11The character was so different to anything I've played before and it felt like an opportunity to just, yeah.
04:17I also kind of have a lot of fun with this character.
04:20Like, Wade is such a fun, fun character.
04:23And then, and also the opportunity to go somewhere, you know, and see something new in that part of the
04:27world is so remote.
04:29You know, the idea to get to go to this, yeah, to get to go to Newfoundland.
04:33When else are you going to go to Newfoundland?
04:35You know, I mean, people should go to Newfoundland, but, so, yeah, I just had all those ingredients.
04:41I do feel like, and granted, I've only seen the first two episodes, so maybe the character takes a big
04:44turn,
04:45but your character in Below, if he lived in London and was a journalist, he would be sort of similar
04:51to the, to the guy in Industry.
04:53Really?
04:54Interesting.
04:56Why is that?
04:57Why do you think that?
04:57I don't know.
04:58Maybe just the vibe.
04:59The vibe?
05:00The vibe of the guy.
05:00Yeah.
05:01That's so interesting.
05:03Maybe they're both, they're both, they're both, they both have a love for narcotics, I think.
05:08That's the only thing I, it's just, it's like, yeah.
05:11They look similar.
05:12Yeah, they do that.
05:12Well, it's me.
05:14He would embrace the unconventional journalistic.
05:18I've got the same height.
05:20I feel like, for me, yeah.
05:22I really choose to do the same height character.
05:24Different, different voices, though.
05:25That's what I do, I just change my voice.
05:27That's true.
05:27How, the Newfoundland accent is, I guess, infamous, right?
05:31Very specific.
05:32How did you guys find picking that up?
05:35Easy.
05:37I don't do it, so.
05:38Well.
05:39It was a, so, obviously, Mackenzie plays someone from away.
05:43So, Charlie and I play, you know, father and son, and we are clearly from the same place.
05:51So, we had to find the specific sounds that we were going to use for our family accent.
05:58It varies from, Newfoundland is not, there's not a lot of people, but it's a very large landmass,
06:03and there are lots of people that have been there for generations in one place.
06:07So, very specific dialects, and there's many of them.
06:13So, we had to choose which one was going to work best, I think, for the family, and then
06:17all work together to kind of make sure that we were in the same place.
06:22And we were able to do that, which is really cool, and we had a great dialect coach.
06:25And, um, I like this thing called the Fisherman's Broadcast.
06:29It's now called Broadcast on CBC.
06:31Okay.
06:32And I listen to that almost every day, because it was so many regional dialects.
06:36It was so good.
06:37And, yeah, yeah, to get it in my head.
06:39Did you have a sentence or a phrase that got you into the accent?
06:44There were quite a few.
06:45But we had some kind of nursery rhyme-y stuff that we used to do as well, but I'm not
06:49going
06:49to do that right now.
06:50No.
06:50Yeah.
06:51Yeah, I mean.
06:52Fodder.
06:54Fodder, yeah.
06:54Fodder.
06:55Fodder all the time?
06:55Yeah, yeah, yeah.
06:56Fodder, mudder.
06:57Fodder, mudder.
06:58What is there to do in Newfoundland when you're not filming?
07:01Go to the Duke.
07:03Oh, so many.
07:03So much things.
07:04Whale watching.
07:05Swim with whales.
07:06Go find puffins.
07:07Go swimming with the capelin.
07:08Go see the capelin.
07:10Hike.
07:11Hike.
07:11Go for a run.
07:12Signal hill.
07:13Yep.
07:14Try not to hit moose when you're driving.
07:16Try not to hit moose while you're driving.
07:18Oysters.
07:18Many oysters.
07:19Good food.
07:20Swim.
07:20Lots of knitwear.
07:22Swim.
07:22Swim.
07:22A lot of it.
07:23The knitwear is incredible.
07:25Yeah.
07:26Oh, yeah, yeah.
07:26What is the Duke?
07:28Oh, Duke is like one of the best pubs in the world.
07:33It's a great pub.
07:34And most of our crews spend a lot of time there in the off hours.
07:38Yeah.
07:39They do fish.
07:40So every Friday, like Newfoundland is like, you know, supper.
07:42They have their supper.
07:43And a lot of people go out there on a Friday to have fish supper, which is fish and chips.
07:48Yeah.
07:48Oh, like a fish fry in the Midwest.
07:50Yeah.
07:50Yeah.
07:51Yeah.
07:51And it's pretty good.
07:53It's really.
07:54You can't say it's so good.
07:56I'm from a fishing town.
07:57I'm from like a small fishing town on the coast of England.
07:59All we do is fish and chips.
08:01Say it's good.
08:01My taste buds don't matter because you grew up in a fishing village.
08:04Yeah.
08:05What do you think is better?
08:08I found a place in Petty Harbor.
08:10It was a totally different area, much more on the coast, much more of its own.
08:15Like, it was definitely much more real, straight out of the ocean, and the cod was coming right
08:20to your table.
08:22Right.
08:22High standards.
08:23Not all the way into the big city of St. John's.
08:26On trucks, frozen beforehand.
08:29Oh, God.
08:30I can't believe you're ripping the Duke.
08:32No, I think the Duke is great.
08:33I love the Duke.
08:33They treated you.
08:34I love the Duke.
08:35It's not that.
08:36I'm just, I am saying that, yes, fish and chips were good at the Duke.
08:40There were other places that I found better.
08:41That's all.
08:42You're not going to allow.
08:43I know they're not going to allow me back.
08:44We are doing something there next week, so they're going to be so pissed.
08:47They're not going to give me a Guinness, which I can't drink anymore anyway.
08:50Were any of you afraid of the water before making this show?
08:54I was born in 1978, like Jaws.
08:57Yeah.
08:57Oh.
08:57Terrified of the water.
08:58Yeah.
08:59No, I'm very brave.
09:01You do seem very brave.
09:02Were you, did making this show or watching any of the episodes make you more freaked out?
09:09No, because I know it's not real.
09:12Well, Jaws wasn't real either.
09:13I know, but I was there.
09:15It's like watching a horror movie with yourself in it and you're like, I'm fine.
09:19Yeah.
09:20That's true.
09:20That's true.
09:21Do you guys remember what you got yourself with your very first Hollywood paycheck?
09:28Like your first kind of real job check that came in?
09:31What did you treat yourself to?
09:33Do you guys know what you got?
09:34Um, kind of, yeah.
09:37Yeah.
09:38Well, and what is the first real...
09:40Oh, that was it.
09:41That was it.
09:41How are we now?
09:42Do you remember?
09:43I, uh, ever since I was like, I think like 17 or 18, I'd wanted, uh, my dad's friend
09:50Steve had an MG, the car, and I'd always wanted that, and I'd never had a car.
09:56It was my first car.
09:56Uh, it was only, it was, it was like, it was like, I won't say how much it was.
10:01It wasn't that expensive.
10:01It was like nine, it's nine grand.
10:03How much was it?
10:03It was ten grand.
10:05Oh, it's nine grand.
10:05So it's cheaper than a, I had this idea, I could either rent a car and spend ten grand
10:09for the time I'm in Atlanta, or I could buy my dream car.
10:12Cool.
10:12And I bought my dream car, uh, and all it did was break down.
10:15Yeah, of course.
10:15Where is it?
10:16Yeah.
10:17Right?
10:17It's in a garage in Atlanta.
10:19Oh, good God.
10:19Uh, but it's beautiful, and I love driving it when she drives.
10:22When?
10:23Yeah.
10:23He wrote when.
10:24Anyone else?
10:25Yeah, I remember.
10:26How about you?
10:27Uh, what, do you have to say what it is?
10:30You want to go last?
10:31No, mine's very, mine's very similar to Charlie's, where I, I, I really wanted a car, but I,
10:35I didn't, I wasn't brave enough, or I had a father who wouldn't allow me to get the car
10:38I wanted.
10:38Hmm.
10:39So I, I had the, I had, I had the money, I thought, to go buy something that was really
10:42cool, um, like a vintage, like a very, very vintage Porsche, and it was, it was, I found
10:50this one, it was not in good condition, and my dad was like, what do you think?
10:56Like, you're not gonna be able to drive that anywhere, you're just gonna break down all
10:58the time, and he convinced me not to buy it, and I ended up buying a, for about, right
11:02around the same price that you bought yours, I think it was like nine grand, I think I
11:05had about, like, ten to spend, and I bought it for nine grand.
11:08And, um, a, uh, Jeep, um, uh, Wrangler.
11:13A Jeep Wrangler.
11:14That's so fun.
11:14But it was, it wasn't, it wasn't, it wasn't as cool as, like, a.
11:18Yeah.
11:19Old, like, 80s broken down Porsche, which would have been super cool.
11:22Yeah.
11:22And I could have kept that to this day, and, like, maybe restored it, and, like,
11:25have this awesome thing.
11:26Are you calling?
11:26No.
11:28Just one sec.
11:31That's, that's me, the dang on the car.
11:33Nice.
11:34Wow.
11:34Picking up the car in the garage.
11:36Cute.
11:37Cute.
11:38Look at that.
11:38There's a, do you know what a Canadian tuxedo is?
11:41Yeah.
11:42Yeah, there, there you go.
11:43Oh, that's what you're wearing.
11:45Yeah.
11:46Wow.
11:46I was very, very excited about it.
11:49Mackenzie, take us home.
11:50Yeah, I mean, it wasn't the first thing, but, but just to stay on theme, it was a 1973 SL
11:59Mercedes Ford, it was, like, a hardtop convertible in this gray.
12:03Like, seafoam green.
12:05It was so sexy.
12:06Cool girl car.
12:07It was so fun, and I, um, I actually bought it during the pandemic, because I was going
12:12to leave L.A., and I didn't have a car, like, I ended up getting stuck there, and I had
12:16gotten rid of my car, and I was going to leave, blah, blah, anyways, it's a long story, but,
12:20um, then I needed a car to drive around L.A., and I, I bought this for about $10,000,
12:27actually.
12:27Wow.
12:28Yeah.
12:29The price is right.
12:30And, uh, and had such a nice summer there, and was, and, because there was, you know,
12:33no traffic, so it was really sort of a dream.
12:35And where is she now?
12:37Um, I sold it to my sister, because I only had it for, like, three months, because I moved
12:40to London shortly thereafter.
12:41Sold it to my sister, and then now she had it for a long time and sold it to her
12:44friends,
12:44so it's still, like, in the mix.
12:46Nice.
12:46Yeah.
12:47Fun.
12:48Okay, last.
12:48That's my car, my wife, one of it.
12:49Oh, my God, it's so, I'll show you a picture of mine afterwards.
12:51Maybe if your sister's done with it.
12:53Um, last question.
12:54Is there anything you guys have been in that you wish you weren't in so that you could
12:58watch it?
12:59Oh, sorry.
13:00Oh, sorry.
13:03I was going to say so that you could watch it, like, as a fan without it being, like,
13:08you know, you watch it pure, but now maybe I should just start asking that question,
13:11just the first part.
13:12What do you, what do you hate?
13:14Strike one from the record.
13:15Yeah, yeah, yeah.
13:16We could.
13:16Yeah, F, moon, kill.
13:18Yeah, exactly.
13:20Oh, that's actually kind of a good game for some point.
13:23I think I, like, only, and I'm not in it that much, so it is quite easy to watch, but
13:27I think as soon as you go, like, inside of something, you're like, oh, this was that
13:31day, or this person's, was, had this vibe, or whatever, this happened while I was there,
13:36but Blade Runner, um, I think I, like, would have seen it again other than the first time
13:40I've seen it, because the original is my favorite movie, or one of, and, uh, yeah,
13:45it's not, like, bad to watch it, you just lose that little bit of, it's like the tax
13:51on being an actor, I think, because you don't get to fully immerse in some things.
13:55Yeah.
13:55One movie a year where you don't get to enjoy it.
13:58Yeah.
13:58The way that you would.
13:59Exactly.
14:00It's a tough tax.
14:00That's the tax, yeah.
14:03Yeah, of course, it would be, you know, be hard, it'd be hard not to say strange things,
14:07because of the phenomenon, you know, and to understand what that would have been like
14:11to see from the outside.
14:12You're like, I don't get it.
14:13Yeah.
14:14Yeah.
14:17I did a movie with some friends, and we, we, we were all, uh, I mean, a friend of mine
14:22directed it, a friend of mine wrote it, some friends of mine and I produced it, and I was
14:25in it, and then we got this crazy cast together, uh, and it wasn't really a big hit, but it
14:29was just a movie that I really loved being a part of, and kind of, but I was, I'd always
14:34like to, I wonder what I would have thought of it had it just, like, popped out and come
14:37out into theaters, and I would, would I have liked it, would I have seen it, would I have
14:40kind of championed it, and it was Lucky Number 11, I don't know if you ever saw that.
14:44Um, yeah, we shot, thanks man, uh, and we shot that in Canada, actually, we shot that
14:49in, uh, Montreal, and then in Chicago for a little bit, uh, but it was, or in New York
14:54for a little bit, um, and yeah, it was, it was, uh, I'd be curious to see how that would
15:00turn out with somebody else.
15:01Yeah, fair.
15:02Well, thanks guys for chatting with me, I appreciate it.
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